Grammar. one of the parallel formations of adjectives and adverbs used to express differences in quality, quantity, or intensity. In English, low and careful are the positive degree, lower and more careful are the comparative degree, lowest and most careful are the superlative degree.

11.

Mathematics.

the sum of the exponents of the variables in an algebraic term:

x3 and 2x2y are terms of degree three.

the term of highest degree of a given equation or polynomial:

The expression 3x2y + y2+ 1 is of degree three.

the exponent of the derivative of highest order appearing in a given differential equation.

12.

Music. a tone or step of the scale.

13.

Astrology. any of the 360 equal divisions of the ecliptic measured counterclockwise from the vernal equinox. Each of the 12 signs of the zodiac contains 30 degrees.

14.

a certain distance or remove in the line of descent, determining the proximity of relationship:

a cousin of the second degree.

15.

Archaic. a line or point on the earth or the celestial sphere, as defined by degrees of latitude.

Most modern senses date from Middle English, from notion of a hierarchy of steps. Meaning "a grade of crime" is 1670s; that of "a unit of temperature" is from 1727. The division of the circle into 360 degrees was known in Babylon and Egypt. It is perhaps from the daily motion of the sun through the zodiac in the course of a year.

degree definition

In geometry, a unit of measurement of angles, 1/360 of a circle. In physics, a unit of temperature (seeCelsius, Fahrenheit, andKelvin scale). A degree on the Fahrenheit scale is smaller than a degree on the Celsius or Kelvin scale. Degrees on the Celsius and Kelvin scales are the same size.